Charlottetown jury now deliberating in historic sexual assault case
A P.E.I. judge spent two hours instructing jurors in the John Vanderzwaag sexual assault trial on Thursday morning, before sending them off to start their deliberations.
Justice John Mitchell told the jury of five men and seven women they must weigh all the evidence and work toward a unanimous decision.
They will be sequestered at a Charlottetown hotel overnight if they haven't come to a unanimous decision by the end of the first day of deliberations.
Vanderzwaag, who also goes by the first name Jan, was charged with two counts of sexual assault dating back more than 20 years.
He was 22 at the time, and the complainants were a teen boy and a young man whose identities are protected through a publication ban.
Vanderzwaag testified on Tuesday that he never touched the younger person, and that he and the older complainant were close friends who had consensual sex on the night the assault allegedly took place.
